I was home early on Wednesday night and had expected to find a box waiting for me on the door step. Nothing. Not even a piece of junk mail. I went upstairs. Nothing. The mail hadn’t come yet. So I parked myself on the stoop and waiting. Finally the mailman came. I raced down the steps as soon as I saw the box. She is here!
He said “Oh, I see you’ve been waiting for something. What is it?”
So I told him. “Well. It’s a queen bee”
His reply was “What? You mean I’ve been carrying a bee around in my mail all day!? What are you going to do with her, pollinate some stuff”
I didn’t bother mentioning that there was a GIANT yellow sticker on it that said QUEEN BEE INSIDE.
The box had a bunch of holes poked in it. I carefully opened it up so I wouldn’t disturb them. The cage they came in was taped to the box. As gently as possible, I pulled it off. Everyone made it to Brooklyn alive.
The queen had about 5 other attendant bees with her. I ran some water over the cage. Although they had some sugar to eat, they haven’t had any water since they were mailed on Monday. I put the cage in the basement because it is cool and dark down there. We can’t actually put in the new queen until we find the old one. The drama continues tomorrow.
omg. good look!
So glad you posted a photo of the mailing box. I always wondered how they sent a queen through the mail. It seems so impossible. Good luck with her introduction.